The present invention relates to an apparatus for preparing a copy mounting sheet which is used in order to accomplish color separation of various originals by a scanner or especially by an electronic page make-up system.
Recently an electronic page make-up system which accomplishes color separation of an original by a scanner and synthesizes a picture data of one page of a printed sheet by the computer processing has been widely used in the printing industry. The electronic page make-up system is connected to a computer capable of paging and the picture data read out by the scanner is applied to the computer which in turn processes it for a page makeup and delivers its output data to the scanner.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating the construction of a conventional electronic page make-up system. Reference numeral 160 designates a make-up unit; 170, a tablet digitizer; and 180, a scanner. As shown in FIG. 1, the make-up unit 160 comprises a computer 161, storages or memories 162 and 163, a display device 164, a joy stick 165 and a keyboard 166, all of which are connected to the computers 161. The tablet digitizer 170 comprises a cursor 171 and an input surface 172 consisting of a base region 173 and menue regions 174. The scanner 180 comprises an input drum 181, an output drum 182, a linear encoder 183, a rotary encoder 184 and two interfaces 185 and 186, which are connected to the computer 161. The computer 161 comprises an input computer, a make-up computer and an output computer (not shown).
With the electronic page make-up system of the type described, the process for editing the picture data in accordance with various originals, layout sheets and other instructions is accomplished as follows. First, an original is pasted on the input drum 181 of the scanner 180 at an angle indicated on a layout sheet and the position data Px in the X direction read out by the linear encoder 183, the position data Py in the Y direction read out by the rotary encoder 184 and the picture data are applied through the interface 185 to the input computer (not shown) of the computer 161 and then stored in the storage 162. According to a layout sheet (not shown), the picture data is derived from a region slightly greater in area than an actually trimmed region and then accurately trimmed by the output computer (not shown) of the computer 161.
The storage 162 into which are applied the picture data is disconnected from the input computer and is connected to the make-up computer so that the display device 164 displays the picture data stored in the storage 162. An operator observes the picture displayed by the display device 164 and controls, based upon the layout sheet, the joy stick 165 to cause the cursor to move, thereby designating a region to be trimmed or tint block. The keyboard 166 determines a magnification, a color of the surface of a press sheet, a halftone percentage and so on.
These data are stored in the memory 163 so that the memory 163 is disconnected from the make-up computer after readout and then connected to the output computer (not shown) of the computer 161. Then the data stored in the memory 163 is derived through the output computer and the interface 186 so that a page composed image is exposed to a film mounted around the output drum 182 of the scanner 180.
The above-described processes accomplished by the use of the joy stick 165 and the keyboard 166 can be also accomplished by operating the tablet digitizer 170. That is, the layout sheet is set on the base region 173 of the tablet digitizer 170 and the cursor 171 is operated so that the position data of the rough sketch on the layout sheet and various menues selected from the menue regions 174 are inputted.
When the picture data on the original is read out from the input drum 181 of the scanner 180, first the original must be pasted over the input drum 181 at an angle specified in the layout sheet. The process for pasting the original over the cylindrical surface of the input drum 181 is visually accomplished by an operator. More specifically, the operator measures an angle of inclination of a rough sketch on a layout sheet by a protractor and pastes an original over the scanning drum while confirming the angle of the original by the protractor based on the measured angle. As a result, there arises the problems that the process is very cumbersome and that it is impossible to paste an original with an accurate angle.
Next in the page make-up process by the computer 161, a read-in picture image must be accurately trimmed. The trimming process is accomplished by displaying the picture on the screen of the display device 164 and operating the joy stick 165 so that the designation of the positions representative of an area to be trimmed tends to become inaccurate. Furthermore, this process requires a skilled operator and occupies the computer 161 for a long period of time. As a result, there arises the problem that the electronic page make-up system which is very expensive cannot be utilized with a high degree of efficiency.
In addition, the diameters of analyzing drums upon which are pasted the originals vary in several steps depending upon a separation magnification of an original and a mounting sheet of an original which is used when an original is pasted over the analyzing drum must be prepared for a specific drum to be used. It follows therefore that when the mounting sheet is prepared, an original which can be pasted over the analyzing drum of a predetermined size must be selected and a mounting sheet upon which are pasted a group of selected originals must be prepared. Since the original selection process is accomplished based upon a measured magnification, there arises the problem that the process is very cumbersome.
In view of the above, the same applicant proposed a device which measures a magnification by utilizing a magnification measuring instrument capable of projecting an original and which can derive an angle at which an original is pasted as disclosed in detail in Japanese Patent Application No. 59-162108.
However, the device of the type described above cannot designate an area to be trimmed so that the cumbersome trimming process must be accomplished while displaying a figure on the display device 164.